Today was another great day and the "Make Your Home a Haven Challenge" from Monica at the lovely blog, The Homespun Heart gave me some good direction for how to use my day. Wednesday is one of the days that Pk goes to daycare (we needed to keep her there to keep our spot and she goes to a lovely home daycare that is like a kind of second family for her). It's also a wonderful day that I get to spend with Baby Bean. I have struggled a bit with feeling badly that I can't do more with him - with Pk, we did lots of library programmes, Baby Sign classes and music classes but with Baby Bean, since we have Pk along, what we have been able to do is limited. Having these two days a week together make me feel like I can really have some quality time with him.
My day began early - I always get up at 5:30 and work out and do my devotions to start the day and then have my shower before my kidlets get up. This morning, Pk was up early and so she moved her couch and "Blanket Two" and spent some time hanging out with me. It was nice but I had to answer LOTS of questions as I got ready ("What's that, mummy? Can I wear that make-up, too? How old do I have to be?")
In tidying, I tackled a job that I have been desperately in need of doing. We have a chest freezer downstairs in the laundry room and the freezer in the top of the fridge up in the kitchen. As you can see, it's a catch-all for everything. Every time we opened the door, there would be an avalanche. Today was the day to get it sorted out.
What an improvement. Dh and I joke that leaving things to get really out of hand make the finished product when you finally tackle it much more satisfying.
For me, making home a haven is definitely connected to food. I try to prepare food that is yummy AND healthy and whenever possible, I try to have healthy baking around. For some reason, that represents coziness. On Friday morning, I have a standing playdate with P's best friend, her mom (who has become a good friend of mine) and Baby I, who is a month older than Baby Bean. We take turns hosting for the morning and lunch and the visitor always brings some baking. As you learned yesterday, our cupboards are a bit bare right now and I didn't want to spend much on extra groceries so it took some creativity to come up with something. As always, Anne Lindsay didn't let me down. These blueberry tea biscuits were easy, lower in fat and sugar and quite yummy hot with butter (I only had one to make sure that they were good enough to take as a gift!)
Wednesday is Baby Bean's swim lesson. It is truly a highlight of my week. So often, we are so busy but when we are in the pool, I can totally concentrate on him. Today, though, he was so interested in me - he became fascinated with the sea of older women doing aquafit in the other pool. Once one of them waved at him, that was it - he put on quite a show, trying to get them to smile at him. I think we are in trouble with this little monkey. It was his last lesson and he got his first passing report card :-). He's so funny, one "skill" included in the programme is being dunked under water. The instructor does what she calls the "baby pass" - she takes the baby and passes him under the water, shooting him forward to be caught by mummy. Some babies hate it but Baby Bean is fine - he is so upset at being taken from me by the instructor that being dunked under water doesn't matter - he is just so relieved to get back to me.
Monica mentioned that she was going to make a nice dessert tonight with dinner and that seemed like a good idea here, too. Dh rarely eats dessert and never asks for it. He's English and they aren't especially interested in exotic foods (I remember hearing Bill Bryson interviewed after writing "Notes from a Small Island" and his saying that it was something to do with the English character that they can get excited about a biscuit that tastes like sawdust). One of Dh's favs, though, is custard with banana (a "nursery" food in England, I think). I saved these little dishes when we bought some creme caramel for dh's father and they were just perfect. Dinner finished with warm custard with thinly sliced bananas and dh was over the top. I had to sprinkle mine with nutmeg (I LOVE nutmeg).
Every other Wednesday, we have our bedtime stories programme at the library. It's the same group that goes every session (hence why I could get permission from everyone to post their kids on my blog). It's a great thing to do as a family.
Pk got to run around, sing and play games with her best friend in the world, V, so she was in heaven. It's funny that Pk, who is 3 1/2 and V, who is almost 3, could be so close but they loved each other the first time they met and have been inseparable ever since. It's really nice that I like V's parents as much as Pk likes V.
I'm looking forward to seeing what Monica has in store for us tomorrow!
What a delightful day!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great day! I remember cinnamon toast from when I was younger also. I make it for my daughter now and she loves it. It seems exotic to kids but thankfully it's made with stuff we usually have on hand... :)
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